Chapter 190: Get Away From Me (1)

Ghislain quickly scanned the frontlines and said, "Gillian, take the right wall. Kaor, handle the left. I'll break through the center and open the gate."

Once the operation had started, questions and disobedience were not tolerated.

The two moved immediately as soon as the command was given.

Boom!

As Gillian and Kaor leaped forward with mana gathered in their bodies, the ground cracked loudly under their feet.

Some of the knights followed them, sprinting toward the walls on both sides.

Ghislain gestured and continued speaking quickly, "Belinda, handle the mages suppressing us from the walls, along with the archers. You don't need to kill all of them, just disrupt them enough to prevent proper suppression. Can you do it?"

"Of course. Thanks to you, I've gained enough mana to use skills I couldn't before."

Belinda, wearing a black mask, slowly began to blur into the shadows.

Where she had stood, the surroundings distorted slightly into the shape of a person, as if someone had turned invisible.

Unlike the Invisibility spell, a careful observer could sense her presence, but in the chaos of a nighttime battle, it would be nearly impossible to notice.

"Then I'll head out first. Take care of yourself, my lord."

Swish.

Belinda moved, leaving behind a ripple in the darkness like a shadow wavering in the wind.

This technique cloaked her body with mana, reflecting light to fool the eyes of others.

Though it consumed significant mana, it was extremely effective in chaotic skirmishes and a favorite among assassins.

The knights, unaware of such techniques, were shocked to see her disappear, but there was no time to explain.

In this operation, speed and timing were everything.

Boom!

As Ghislain charged forward, the remaining knights gritted their teeth and hurried to follow him.

The Cabaldi troops, cautiously approaching, froze in shock at the sight of the rapidly advancing figures.

"What's that? Are they enemies? Allies? Who are they?"

Before they could understand, Ghislain streaked toward them like lightning.

"Who do you think I am? The new lord of this place."

Slash!

The head of the soldier at the front flew off in an instant.

As if this were the signal, the knights of Fenris who followed Ghislain began their slaughter.

"What, what is this? Who the hell are they?"

"Enemies! Enemies have appeared!"

"How did they get inside the castle?"

In the blink of an eye, the reconnaissance team was annihilated.

Their screams echoed to the Cabaldi troops stationed on the walls and at the gates.

When the wall commander turned in shock at the noise,

Boom!

Without giving them a moment to grasp the situation, Ghislain and the Fenris knights stormed in.

"Aaagh!"

The ambushed Cabaldi soldiers were helplessly cut down.

Ordinary soldiers were no match for knights wielding mana-infused weapons.

As the enemy poured in from inside the castle, the Cabaldi soldiers panicked and broke formation.

With enemies waiting outside and now flooding in from within, they didn't know where to focus their efforts.

The chaos spread not only among the soldiers but also the knights.

"What's happening?"

"Where did the enemy come from?"

"Get the situation under control! Quickly!"

The Cabaldi knights tried to organize the soldiers, but the confusion was overwhelming. It was understandable, as they were struck from an entirely unexpected direction.

Meanwhile, the soldiers, still clueless, were cut down one by one.

Eventually, the knights turned to Jaymon, the commander of the walls, for guidance.

"Commander! What should we do?"

"The enemy has suddenly appeared!"

"It's an ambush! The enemy is ambushing us!"

Jaymon was just as stunned.

Unable to comprehend the situation, he muttered, "Why? Why are the enemies here? What about the tunnel? What happened to the lord?"

They had detected the enemy digging the tunnel and concentrated their forces there.

Even the confident Count Cabaldi had gone to personally command the forces at the tunnel.

But now, the enemy had suddenly appeared here? How? Did they break through the forces guarding the tunnel?

At that moment, the strange objects he had seen earlier flashed in Jaymon's mind.

"C-could it be… those things flying in the sky… the enemy used them?"

It was hard to believe, but there was no other explanation.

The objects they had merely stared at in confusion had brought the enemy into the castle.

"Impossible. There's no way something like that could exist. How could anything fly through the sky?"

Trying to comprehend something beyond reason made his head spin. Meanwhile, the screams of his comrades echoed around him.

"Commander! Get a hold of yourself!"

"Give us orders, now!"

"The enemy is too strong! Our troops are being wiped out!"

Jaymon snapped out of his daze at the knights' urgent cries.

This was no time to wonder how the enemy had arrived.

As commander, his duty was to assess the situation and issue the best orders.

And to do that, he needed to understand the enemy's intentions.

Slowly turning his gaze toward the Fenris army outside the castle, he noticed a stark difference.

Unlike the chaos inside, the outside forces were silent and still, as if watching the castle intently.

They were terrifying.

That silent army, lurking in the shadows, seemed like a beast waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"They're targeting the gate…"

At last, the enemy's strategy became clear to him.

Deceived by the tunnel ploy, most of their troops had been diverted.

The enemy never needed siege weapons. Once they opened the gate, the entire army could flood in.

If such a massive force entered, reinforcements would be too late.

Their troops were already starving and demoralized. They had placed their final hope in the trap they'd laid at the tunnel.

But now, if the enemy entered with little damage and established formation inside, they would be utterly outmatched.

It would be a complete defeat.

'Are we going to die like this…?'

A chill ran down his spine.

The idea of flying into enemy territory was so shocking that he hadn't even imagined it.

The person who devised and executed such a plan terrified him to his core.

Creativity to conceive a strategy not found in any military textbook, boldness to enter the heart of enemy lines, and the skill to pull it off…

Could someone like him ever hope to stand against such a person?

'I was so foolish.'

If only he had recognized the diversion earlier.

If only he had intercepted the flying objects.

If only…

Slap!

'Snap out of it!'

Jaymon slapped his own face hard and gritted his teeth.

The enemy numbered around 100, while they had 600.

Though they were caught off guard, the enemy was still outnumbered. Their forces had also split into three directions, reducing their numbers even further.

Despite the ambush, they still had a fighting chance if they regained their composure.

"Prepare to repel them…"

Jaymon began to shout orders but froze as he surveyed the battlefield.

Not only were they failing to repel the enemy, but their forces were on the verge of annihilation.

The attackers were overwhelming. Their soldiers were falling like flies, while not a single enemy had died.

'With just that few…'

A mere 100 attackers were overpowering a force many times their size.

He had never witnessed an army so fast and powerful.

'Are all of them… knights using mana? That's impossible.'

Yet the glowing mana-clad swords slashing through the darkness said otherwise.

'Did Fenris hide this kind of power…?'

From the mysterious flying objects to the 100 knights—it all felt unreal. His head spun from the sheer absurdity of it.

'In this situation… we can't win.'

To fight mana users with ordinary soldiers required a proper formation and strategy, but the ambush had thrown them into chaos.

This was the power of a surprise attack—turning even overwhelming odds against the defender.

Once caught off guard, it was nearly impossible to regain control.

"We need to buy time."

Jaymon gritted his teeth. The enemy was strong, but they weren't unbeatable.

If their main forces arrived before the gate was breached, they could surround and crush the attackers.

He had to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

His mind raced as he searched for a solution.

"Everyone, get a grip! The enemy has no siege weapons or archers to attack the walls directly! Leave only enough mages and archers for suppression on the walls; the rest, move down! Form a defensive line immediately! The remaining troops, focus on defending the gate!"

"Yes, sir!"

Cabaldi's soldiers weren't called the strongest in the North simply because of their equipment.

They were well-trained, disciplined elite troops led by skilled knights and commanders like Jaymon, trusted by Count Cabaldi himself.

With the knights regrouping and Jaymon taking direct command, the chaos began to subside. The Cabaldi forces started forming a defense against the intruders.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The soldiers, equipped with steel shields and armor from the North's finest iron mines, formed a line.

Thanks to the sacrifices of those who had fallen, they managed to establish a defensive formation.

"Send an urgent request for reinforcements to the lord! Hold your ground, no matter what! The priority is to endure! Just hold out a little longer, and reinforcements will come!"

Warning horns sounded, and signal flares exploded into the sky.

From this point, it was a race against time. Would the gate and walls fall to the enemy, or would reinforcements arrive first?

'Hold on. Just hold on a little longer. Please, hurry…'

Cabaldi Castle was vast, built to accommodate an entire city within its walls.

Even the smallest and poorest territories had to build large castles to defend against monsters as well as enemies.

Jaymon had always taken pride in the vastness of Cabaldi Castle, but now he cursed its size.

'Are we too late…?'

Though they had managed to form a defense, their forces were still being pushed back.

Even as archers and tower guards rained arrows on the intruders, it was futile.

The attackers, highly skilled, blocked the arrows with small shields as they systematically cut down their opponents.

In desperation, Jaymon shouted, "Mages! What are the mages doing? Forget collateral damage and attack now!"

They needed the mages to unleash their firepower and break the enemy's momentum.

The attackers were few; if they took a direct hit from powerful spells, they wouldn't survive.

Jaymon had resolved himself to accept sacrifices and called for the mages, but the walls remained eerily silent.

The invaders hadn't reached the walls yet. Why weren't the mages attacking?

Frustrated, Jaymon turned to the walls and saw an astonishing sight.

The mages and archers on the walls were collapsing one by one.

"You damn bastards, I'll kill you all!"

One mage, panicking, raised his hand, summoning a massive, flaming orb in the air.

No matter how strong the knights were, they wouldn't survive a direct hit from such a powerful spell.

But before the mage could release the spell, the air behind him shimmered, and someone appeared.

Slash.

"Ugh, ugh…"

The mage, his throat slit by a dagger, choked on his blood and collapsed, his unfinished spell dissipating into nothing.

"Enemies! Enemies on the walls!"

"An assassin!"

"The mage is down!"

Panic spread as the remaining soldiers on the walls turned their attention to the scene.

But by then, the attacker had already disappeared.

Slash!

Moments later, an archer fell, his throat slit.

"Argh!"

"There's an invisible enemy!"

"It's a demon!"

The soldiers were paralyzed with fear. Shadows in the darkness seemed to flicker, killing them one by one.

A second mage, realizing the situation, tried to cast a spell on the distorted space, but the assassin was faster.

Swoosh!

The assassin, emerging from the shadows, slashed the mage's throat and vanished once more.

"Hmph."

The masked assassin scoffed before melting back into the darkness.

The knights stationed on the walls finally moved to catch the assassin, but by then, more soldiers and mages had been killed.

While the assassin didn't kill in large numbers, the steady stream of deaths caused immense confusion and fear among the Cabaldi troops.

"Damn it…"

Jaymon, watching from below, clenched his teeth.

With the assassin running rampant, proper suppression was impossible.

The soldiers, terrified of being the next target, were too scared to focus, and chaos ensued.

Meanwhile, the Fenris troops charging toward the walls moved unhindered.

'How did they train knights like this…?'

The assassin's skills were astonishing, but the knights leading the groups to the walls were just as extraordinary.

Every time Jaymon blinked, more of his soldiers fell at the hands of those knights.

When he blinked again…

"Hah…"

Words failed him.

The attackers had reached both walls and begun their slaughter.

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